Talk Around the Campfire
by RavenSara84
Summary: Kenta wants to learn more about his traveling companion Ryuuga, but he also wants to know what the other blader thinks of him. Some secrets can't be told, they need to be learned.


Title: Talk Around the Campfire

Rating: K

Summary: Kenta wants to learn more about his traveling companion Ryuuga, but he also wants to know what the other blader thinks of him. Some secrets can't be told, they need to be _learned_.

He had no idea why he had gone to such lengths to hunt this blader down; after all this blader had tried to defeat Ginga, absorbed his power and if he had won would probably have taken over the world.

_Nah, that's too silly, not even he would do that_. The short green haired boy thought to himself, looking ahead to see the familiar white jacket that was billowed out in the wind, he was behind, but not too far behind; _He's changed since then…_ He thought to himself, remembering how he had passed out in the middle of a waste land, with the other blader walking ahead of him, when he woke up in the rain he was startled and believed that he would have to start his search all over again, only to see him standing under a tree.

"What would you have done had you defeated Ginga?" He decided to asked one night, as they had finished eating, the white haired teen just looked at him, wondering what he meant; "At Battle Bladers,"

"L Drago would have wanted more power," He informed him; "So much that I doubt if he had consumed all the blader's spirits in the world would have satisfied the dragon,"

Kenta looked at the golden dragon armband, where L Drago was kept and wondering how Ryuuga could continue to use that bey when the spirit of the dragon had tried to consume him.

"What…" He trailed off and looked into the fire, he had gotten to know the older teen, but there was moments when he knew he had to be cautious, but in this situation he pushed it away; "What was it like?"

Amber eyes looked at him, although Kenta wasn't sure what emotion he could see in those eyes, but one thing he did know about Ryuuga was that he wore a mask. A mask the keep people away from him, although he wasn't sure why the blader would keep his true feelings hidden from the world, he just did, perhaps he would learn later.

The glow in those eyes told Kenta that he was on thin ice, it wasn't a question the other balder wanted to answer, and given what he was like he would just ignore the question and go to sleep.

"Painful," He admitted, much to Kenta's surprise, who looked at him wide eyed and Ryuuga smirked; "There were _three_ dragons, not one, remember?"

The boy sniffed; "Should I? You didn't remember me," He stated and Ryuuga rolled his eyes.

"I never battled you; you weren't a threat then,"

Kenta perked up, knowing that he had been given a backwards compliment on his skills; _You weren't a threat then_. Meaning that Ryuuga might consider him a challenge now? Perhaps not to the same extent as Kyouya or Ginga, but to know that Ryuuga had placed him into a certain place, further down from those two though, was enough to make his flush with pleasure.

"So it was painful," He began again, thinking back to that day, remembering the three dragons entering him, although the three were L Drago, they were separate, different _aspects_ of the dragon; they had voices of their own and he couldn't command them, they _refused _to listen to the blader and instead took over his body, made him part dragon for the match.

He noticed Kenta nodded as he spoke, knowing that he had seen the transformation happening, that he had _seen_ the dragon version of himself.

"Why didn't you…" Kenta stopped, remembering that he was on thin ice; Ryuuga could easily lose him if he wanted to and he couldn't have that, not when he was becoming so much stronger due to being around him, because he was traveling with him.

"Give in?" Ryuuga finished, but the glare wasn't aimed at the younger boy, instead those amber eyes focused on the fire; "I'm a blader, that's what I've always been, a blader and with my bey I would defeat anyone and _everyone_ who stand in my way. I will not be _used_ as a tool by anyone," He finished with a vow to himself.

_He really means that, he won't let himself be tricked like that again. Or deceived._ Kenta thought and wondered what he was to the older blader, was he just an annoying kid? _No, he wouldn't have given me food in that case._ He pondered a bit more; _A protégé? _Kenta frowned slightly; _unlikely, no one is near his level, aside from Ginga._

"Go to sleep," Ryuuga interrupted his thoughts and he looked over at the other blader in surprise; "We need to look for _them_ tomorrow," He moved, turning his back on him and lay down.

_Definitely not a protégé. But why does he let me travel with him?_ Kenta wondered.

XXX

The next night, after they had battled in another beyblade competition and Ryuuga had technically won, although he didn't hang around long enough to receive any of the awards or accolades, but no Legendary Blader's were found.

Sitting around another fire that the older blader had lit, although Kenta had _tried_ to study his technique, he didn't always use L Drago to light the fire, although it did save a good bit of time, at least for Kenta it was a time saver.

"Why do you let me travel with you?" Kenta asked, that thought had kept pushing into his mind for the whole day, although he didn't believe he should ask such a question, he couldn't see a reason to _not _ask it. He needed to know, regardless of if he would like the answer or not.

The white haired teen just looked at him carefully, trying to judge how his answer would be taken. The kid wasn't that bad, he proved himself to overcome obstacles when he shouldn't have been able to, however hard it was, he would keep going even if it put himself in danger.

Kenta passing out in the wasteland had been proof that the kid would keep going until his body would just break down, that was the reason why he stayed behind.

"You remind me of someone,"

The boy looked up, once more he hadn't expected Ryuuga to answer his question, maybe to make a more vague answer or even insult him in some kind of way, but instead he received an honest answer. Before he could ask another question, Ryuuga had already figured what he would ask.

"Me,"

"What?" He fell off the log he had been sitting on, but quickly moved to look at the other blader in surprise; "How…?"

Ryuuga just looked at him and sighed; "You just do. Not completely," He smirked; "I never followed another blader,"

Kenta knew a dig, he wasn't referring to himself, but to Ginga; "Why not? Maybe you should have, you wouldn't be so mean,"

"Possibly, but who would let me?" He countered and Kenta frowned, not understanding; "Go to sleep, we have a longer day tomorrow,"

"Today was long,"

"Yea? It was… _Diverting_," He replied, once more his back faced Kenta as he lay down on the ground to sleep.

"Night Ryuuga," Kenta said softly as he began to drift off to sleep, thinking that he heard, faintly;

"Night kid,"

_Can't have._

XXX

The next day was full of walking, _everywhere_. Ryuuga appeared to know where he was going and Kenta didn't question him.

He tried to figure out what Ryuuga had said last night, about nobody letting him follow them like he and Ginga had let him do.

_I need to think, maybe there are some clues when Ryuuga battled Ginga?_ Kenta thought to himself, not noticing that Ryuuga glanced at him, with a smirk; _Um… The first battle… No, it was taunts to make Ginga mad, so that L Drao could absorb his strength… Hang on…_ Kenta's brown eyes widened in realisation and Ryuuga turned to look straight on;

'_I always knew your old man and his bey were second rate…'_

_That is a bit odd, he can't have battled Ginga's dad one time and come out with a comment like that…_ Kenta thought just noticing that Ryuuga had stopped and nearly bumped into him. He was surprised to find that the older balder smirked at him.

"Figured it out yet?"

"It's got something to do with Ginga's dad…" Kenta trailed off; "So, did you try to learn from him?"

Rather than reply, Ryuuga's attention was diverted, he sensed a beybattle and they went to see what was going on.

Kenta's question was put aside, not that he minded, right now they were looking for the rest of the Legendary Bladers, and information about Ryuuga himself was just extra bonuses.

It was again at night when Ryuuga answered the question, although Kenta had forgotten about it for a moment, so much had happened that day that he was trying to process it all.

"Yea, I _did_ try to learn more from his father," Ryuuga said, not giving Kenta any warning of what the conversation was about and it took the boy a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

"How many times did you try?"

"Oh, I was persistent," He smirked, but it was grim; "In the end I met up with Doiji, you know what happened then,"

_Everything that had happened, it was all a mistake…_ Kenta thought as they ate their dinner, once again Ryuuga had caught some fish for them to eat; _If Ginga's dad had just helped Ryuuga… He wouldn't be who he was now. Is that for the better though? Would he have had the skill to be a challenge to Ginga?_ He looked at the white haired blader, who didn't notice the brown eyes looking at him; _I guess, I'm going to learn little things about Ryuuga while we are traveling… Hopefully._ He smiled slightly as he continued to eat.

Ryuuga glanced over at the boy later that night, who was beginning to drift off to sleep; _Can you figure it out kid? You got one part right, what about the rest?_

The white haired blader wasn't sure if he wanted Kenta to learn the truth though, but the kid was persistent, stubborn and had guts that he hadn't seen in many young bladers; perhaps Kenta would be the one to learn the truth, but could the boy be able to handle it?

_One challenge at a time._ He thought to himself as he lay down and looked up at the stars; _Legendary Bladers first._ He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
